Election Countdown 2012: Sanitation Workers Refuse to Stop Picketing for the Democratic National Convention and More

In this week's Election Countdown: Its a young crowd at this year's Repuplican National Convention as headliners are barely in their forties; Georgia has to borrow federal funding to keep their unemployment insurance trust fund; Protests continue in New York against Goodwill over low wages; and more.

D – 19 and counting*

"Think happy thoughts," the MP said to Eric, "on the way down." Grabbing Eric by the arm, he slung him into a helpless, crippled posture and shoved him toward the hatch. It was all expert and entirely professional; he found himself teetering at the hatch and then the MP released him in order to escape falling himself. –Philip K. Dick, Now Wait for Last Year

RNCon. Speakers: "Many of the up-and-coming Republican leaders are barely in their 40s. All are part of next week's Republican convention lineup, with Christie as the keynote speaker and Rubio getting the prominent role of introducing Romney." ... Party crashing: "On Monday, August 27 and Tuesday, August 28, Vice President Joe Biden will travel to the Tampa area and other cities for campaign events," Obama's campaign announced Tuesday. "Additional details on the Vice President's trip are forthcoming." ... Party crashing: "Wasserman Schultz [will inaugurate] the D's 'rapid-response war room,' a home base said to be 'just a short walk' from the heart of the R convention in downtown Tampa." ... Police state: "The pipes and bricks were found Friday on the roof of a building at 1004 N. Florida Ave. Graffiti, including the numeral '99′ and an image of a person wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, similar to those worn by members of the Anonymous collective, as well as Occupy movement protestors, was found on the building." Gee, does the word "planted" come to mind?

FL. Election: "Miami Gardens Rep. Barbara Watson [D] edged out North Miami Beach Rep. John Patrick Julien [D] by a narrow 13 votes, according to a manual recount.Julien went to the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office Monday with what he called evidence of a third boletero [here] submitting hundreds of absentee ballots on election day." ... Media critique: "A political writer for Examiner.com who for months has written stories attacking opponents of Hallandale Beach mayoral hopeful Jay Schorr did not tell her readers that she is Schorr's wife." .... Disemployment: "Critics say Gov. Rick Scott and Florida's Legislature are behind a multipronged effort to restrict [unemployment] payments to eligible Floridians. A required 45-question 'skills review' and an online-only application system have combined to restrict thousands of applicants from receiving aid."

VT. Bees: "Kirk Webster, a well-known Vermont honeybee queen breeder, didn't use chemicals at all when tracheal mites were first discovered in the state in the late 1980s. He lost 95 percent of his bees the first year, but by breeding the survivors, now has a resistant stock."

WI. Credentials: "The new pathway [to become a licensed educator] allows an individual with three years of teaching experience – such as in a private school, workplace training center, child care center or postsecondary institution – to apply for a teaching license by submitting a portfolio of work to the DPI for review." ... Agriculture: "State soybean production has been forecast to drop 18 percent to 60.5 million bushels, according to a report from the Wisconsin office of the National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS). Soybeans have been damaged by the drought and an infestation of pesky two-spot spider mites."

Grand Bargain™-brand Cat Food watch. Medicare: "A new Obama radio ad on Monday featured an elderly male voice complaining Romney would "end Medicare and replace it with a voucher." That's not true. That's bad public policy, but Ryan would allow those 55 years old and older now to keep traditional Medicare." Two-tier Medicare is the real evil. So why doesn't Obama attack that? A question that answers itself once asked.

Roboma vs. Obomney watch. Climate: "Nary a word has been spoken about climate change on the presidential campaign trail, and it's a silence that some journalists find deafening." And the parties took the economy off the table too.

Akin flap. Matt 22-39: "We see it on TV all the time. Whenever a women is raped by someone she knows, she falls in love with her rapist. It's just the way it is. Search 'rape' on YouTube and see what comes up." ... Matt 22-39: "[American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer:] 'You know the Gospel writers say that [the scribes and Pharisees] kept looking for some way to trap Jesus in something that he might say, just one single word they could jump on to try to discredit him and that's what they did with Todd Akin and his comments about rape.'" (That the Ds are, in fact, scribes and Pharisees, doesn't make Akins Jesus.) ... "Shut the whole thing down" watch: "Why didn't God go further, and give us the superpower ability to, I don't know, secrete a toxin that would instantly dissolve the human penis that's being forced into our bodies?"

* 19 days until the Democratic National Convention ends with turkey tetrazzini for everyone on the floor of the Bank of America Panther Stadium, Charlotte, NC. A go board was 19 vertical and 19 horizontal lines.

This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Election Countdown 2012: Sanitation Workers Refuse to Stop Picketing for the Democratic National Convention and More

In this week's Election Countdown: Its a young crowd at this year's Repuplican National Convention as headliners are barely in their forties; Georgia has to borrow federal funding to keep their unemployment insurance trust fund; Protests continue in New York against Goodwill over low wages; and more.

D – 19 and counting*

"Think happy thoughts," the MP said to Eric, "on the way down." Grabbing Eric by the arm, he slung him into a helpless, crippled posture and shoved him toward the hatch. It was all expert and entirely professional; he found himself teetering at the hatch and then the MP released him in order to escape falling himself. –Philip K. Dick, Now Wait for Last Year

RNCon. Speakers: "Many of the up-and-coming Republican leaders are barely in their 40s. All are part of next week's Republican convention lineup, with Christie as the keynote speaker and Rubio getting the prominent role of introducing Romney." ... Party crashing: "On Monday, August 27 and Tuesday, August 28, Vice President Joe Biden will travel to the Tampa area and other cities for campaign events," Obama's campaign announced Tuesday. "Additional details on the Vice President's trip are forthcoming." ... Party crashing: "Wasserman Schultz [will inaugurate] the D's 'rapid-response war room,' a home base said to be 'just a short walk' from the heart of the R convention in downtown Tampa." ... Police state: "The pipes and bricks were found Friday on the roof of a building at 1004 N. Florida Ave. Graffiti, including the numeral '99′ and an image of a person wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, similar to those worn by members of the Anonymous collective, as well as Occupy movement protestors, was found on the building." Gee, does the word "planted" come to mind?

FL. Election: "Miami Gardens Rep. Barbara Watson [D] edged out North Miami Beach Rep. John Patrick Julien [D] by a narrow 13 votes, according to a manual recount.Julien went to the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office Monday with what he called evidence of a third boletero [here] submitting hundreds of absentee ballots on election day." ... Media critique: "A political writer for Examiner.com who for months has written stories attacking opponents of Hallandale Beach mayoral hopeful Jay Schorr did not tell her readers that she is Schorr's wife." .... Disemployment: "Critics say Gov. Rick Scott and Florida's Legislature are behind a multipronged effort to restrict [unemployment] payments to eligible Floridians. A required 45-question 'skills review' and an online-only application system have combined to restrict thousands of applicants from receiving aid."

VT. Bees: "Kirk Webster, a well-known Vermont honeybee queen breeder, didn't use chemicals at all when tracheal mites were first discovered in the state in the late 1980s. He lost 95 percent of his bees the first year, but by breeding the survivors, now has a resistant stock."

WI. Credentials: "The new pathway [to become a licensed educator] allows an individual with three years of teaching experience – such as in a private school, workplace training center, child care center or postsecondary institution – to apply for a teaching license by submitting a portfolio of work to the DPI for review." ... Agriculture: "State soybean production has been forecast to drop 18 percent to 60.5 million bushels, according to a report from the Wisconsin office of the National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS). Soybeans have been damaged by the drought and an infestation of pesky two-spot spider mites."

Grand Bargain™-brand Cat Food watch. Medicare: "A new Obama radio ad on Monday featured an elderly male voice complaining Romney would "end Medicare and replace it with a voucher." That's not true. That's bad public policy, but Ryan would allow those 55 years old and older now to keep traditional Medicare." Two-tier Medicare is the real evil. So why doesn't Obama attack that? A question that answers itself once asked.

Roboma vs. Obomney watch. Climate: "Nary a word has been spoken about climate change on the presidential campaign trail, and it's a silence that some journalists find deafening." And the parties took the economy off the table too.

Akin flap. Matt 22-39: "We see it on TV all the time. Whenever a women is raped by someone she knows, she falls in love with her rapist. It's just the way it is. Search 'rape' on YouTube and see what comes up." ... Matt 22-39: "[American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer:] 'You know the Gospel writers say that [the scribes and Pharisees] kept looking for some way to trap Jesus in something that he might say, just one single word they could jump on to try to discredit him and that's what they did with Todd Akin and his comments about rape.'" (That the Ds are, in fact, scribes and Pharisees, doesn't make Akins Jesus.) ... "Shut the whole thing down" watch: "Why didn't God go further, and give us the superpower ability to, I don't know, secrete a toxin that would instantly dissolve the human penis that's being forced into our bodies?"

* 19 days until the Democratic National Convention ends with turkey tetrazzini for everyone on the floor of the Bank of America Panther Stadium, Charlotte, NC. A go board was 19 vertical and 19 horizontal lines.

This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.